Global death toll from the deadly novel coronavirus has reached 427 with two reported dead outside mainland China as infection rate passes 20,500 cases.
Hong Kong reported its first death from the disease Tuesday – only the second outside mainland China.
The Hong Kong victim was a 39-year-old man who had recently travelled to Wuhan, where the virus first originated, who had underlying health problems, the authorities said. It was the second death recorded outside mainland China – the first was in the Philippines on Sunday.
Meanwhile, China’s National Health Commission reported 64 new fatalities as of midnight on Monday – the biggest daily increase since the virus was first detected late last year. Wuhan, and the surrounding province of Hubei, have been effectively sealed off from the rest of the country for more than a week.
There are now 20,438 people confirmed to have the infection in mainland China.
Late on Monday, the Standing Committee of the Politburo – the country’s top leadership – met in Beijing and acknowledged “shortcomings and difficulties” in China’s response to the outbreak.
“This very rare sort of language to hear. This was the senior leadership of the party essentially admitting they had failed the people. They said officials who had made mistakes would be punished. And they said China would have to improve the way it responded to this sort of national emergency in the future.”
Other countries have rushed to evacuate their citizens from Hubei and its capital city, Wuhan, while many have also imposed extraordinary travel restrictions on travellers to and from China.
More than 150 cases have been reported in two dozen other countries, with the United States reporting the second case of human-to-human transmission on Monday.
Taiwan calls China ‘vile’ for limiting WHO access during virus outbreak
Taiwan dramatically escalated its war of words with Beijing over the island’s exclusion from the World Health Organization, saying “vile” China was preventing Taiwan from getting timely information about the coronavirus outbreak.
Taiwan is not a WHO member because of China’s objections. Beijing says the island is a wayward Chinese province and is adequately represented in the organisation by China.
Expert warns disease appears to be ‘on the rise’
A doctor who led the World Health Organization’s response to the 2002-03 SARS outbreak said it is too early to tell when the new coronavirus will peak, but that it appears the disease is still on the increase.
Dr David Heymann said the spike in China’s caseload in recent days was partly attributable to the fact that Chinese officials expanded their search to include milder cases, not only people with pneumonia.
Heymann said as the new virus starts to spread beyond China, scientists will gain a much better understanding of the disease.
Royal Caribbean cancels eight China cruises
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd canceled eight cruises out of China through March 4 in response to the coronavirus outbreak, the company said on Tuesday.
Royal Caribbean also said it would deny boarding to people who had visited mainland China or Hong Kong over the past 15 days. It will also screen Chinese and Hong Kong passport holders and people showing flu-like symptoms.
Aljazeera
